News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-07-07
LUKE POTTER POLAND.

The death of Judge Poland at w a.
tervilIe on Saturday last, removes the
most prominent man that ever resided
in our county. For more than forty
years he has been widely known as a
public man in our county and State,
and for a quarter of century he has
been known throughout the country
as a man admirably equipped for al
most any position within the gift of
the people.
Judge Poland was emphatically a
selfmade man. Enjoying only the
small educational advantages offered
to Young men of limited means in his
boyhood, he had risen, by close ap-
plication and wide course of read
ing, to a high level of scholastic at
tainments and literary culture. Few
men could "put themselves on paper"
so tersely, clearly and rapidly as he
could in the later years of his life. 1t
is said of him, which cannot be said
of auy other Judge, that when on the
circuit of the County Supreme Courts,
he wrote out the opinion in every case
that fell to him for decision, before
leaving the town where the court was
held, except in one instance. Moth
ing short of wonderful intellectual
grasp and an equally wonderful power
of logical reasoning could enable any
man to do such work. His written
opinions in the Vermont Reports dem
onstrate the presence of these gifts in
a remarkable degree.
AS a lawyer he was known as an
indefatigable worker, a close reason
er and as possessing a remarkable
knowledge of human nature, so that
he could bring the facts of his case to
the easy and friendly examination of
a jury or the patient attention of a
court.
As nisi prius Judge he was courte-
GUS and painstaking, and still was
able to dispatch business with wonder
ful rapidity. He was gifted beyond
all men who ever sat upon our bench,
in the clearness of his charges to
jury. In the Supreme Court he read
lily took in the pivotal points of
case and quickly reached a correct
conclusion. He had morbid dislike
for all technical impediments that
blocked the way 10 just results. One
of his brethren differed with him as
to the proper disposition of an impor-
tant case and said, "Bro. Poland, if
you will look into the books think
you will change your views of the
case" Bro. Poland replied, II don't
care picayune for the books. My
view is sanctioned by common sense
and results in exact justice. If you
have any law to the contrary it is I'M
sound and ought to be overruled.
No more courteous and patient and |
no more independent and fearless
Judge ever sat upon our bench than
Judge Poland. Young men admired
him for his fairness and for the en-
couraging words he gave them. While
a young Judge and a young man he
was called to preside at a term of
court at st. Adams. Some of the
older lawyers of that day had been
accustomed to talk out of time
to the Court. One of them made the
attempt before the young Judge, who
had then for the first time come among
them. "Sit down, Mr.. Smalley,"
were the only words spoken, and down
he sat, amid the approving smiles of
the younger men, who discovered that
everybody stood on the same level in
that court room.
As a Member of Congress the ca
reer of Judge Poland is as familiar as
household words. He was the finest
looking man in Congress. He from
the first was leader. He made an
impress upon the legislation of the
country that will live long after his
face is forgotten. His revision of the
federal statutes-a stupendous under
taking-his exposure of the methods
of the Ku Klux Klans, his searching
investigation of carpet-bag politics in
Arkansas, his unraveling of the acts
by which the Credit Mobiler was en-
abled to build railroads, and many
other labors performed while in Con-
gress, have built for him a name and
fame that reflects great honor upon
our State.
He was not an adroit politician he
did not know how to keep in with the
boys. He was too much of a states
man to be popular at the caucus. He
was elected to Office because he tow
cred so high above others that COM
petitors usually looked much smaller
than they really were.
Extended obituaries will be written
of him all over our land, but his loss
will nowhere be mourned more deeply
than in the households of our little
county.